Next Year Will Be Tough for Carmakers: Renault CEO

CNBC's Kaori Enjoji is at the Tokyo Motor Show and speaks to Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Renault-Nissan, about his company's unveiling of the Nissan GTR and outlook for the remainder of the year.

Car makers should brace for another tough year in the U.S. market, as the fallout from the subprime mortgages crisis will affect other areas of the economy, Carlos Ghosn, CEO of the Renault-Nissan alliance, told "Squawk Box Europe" Wednesday.

He said the car market could fall to as low as 15.5 million vehicles in the U.S. next year, while manufacturing costs are likely to rise.

"I don't see what's going to get much better in 2008 so I would say in the best case we're going to be at 16 million cars for next year, it can go as low as 15.5 (million)," Ghosn said.

"On top of this, we think the pressure on commodity prices and precious metals is going to continue to go higher in an industry which practically lost its pricing power," he added.

Ghosn also said Renault-Nissan continues to look for a U.S. partner but was not in talks with any company at the moment.